Ridge Team

Peter Zatloukal fell in love with software early and never really recovered. Over the past 30 years, he has built technology from the operator side, leading world-class research and engineering teams at Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, and multiple startups. His work spans computer vision, edge AI, LLMs, and applied AI systems, with teams contributing to products including Kinect, Alexa, iPhone, Vision Pro, and Apple Intelligence. Peter was VP Engineering at Xnor.ai, acquired by Apple for $200M, and holds 45+ patents across AI and software engineering. At Ridge, he helps founders and the investment team understand where AI is going, which capabilities are becoming real, and which companies could define what comes next. Outside the office, Peter is married with two kids, a golden retriever, a science-fiction reading habit, and a skiing habit powered more by optimism than technique.

Peter holds a BA in Information Systems, Computer Science from the University of Washington.

Robert Simon is a Venture Partner at Ridge Ventures.  He was previously the Senior Managing Partner of BDC IT Venture Fund. Prior to joining BDC, Robert was a General Partner at Alta Partners and a Venture Partner at Sierra Ventures. 

Prior to his venture career, Robert was the founder or co-founder of several software companies including Arthas(DotBank), acquired by Yahoo; Navitel, acquired by Spyglass, PS Publishing acquired by Lotus Development and T/Maker. 

Robert holds a BS and MS in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University. He enjoys skiing, mountain biking and travel.

Eliyahou (Eli) is an Associate at Ridge. He is data-driven, obsessed with fintech and AI/ML, and eager to find early-stage B2B companies with radically disruptive technologies.

Earlier in his career, Eli was a Topological Data Scientist at S&P Global Market Intelligence and an Analyst at Maccabee Ventures. He also led business development and product strategy at TotemVC, selling an end-to-end fund solution across emerging fund managers and multi-billion dollar institutions.

Eli earned his MA in Mathematics from the Katz School of Science and Health and his BA in Mathematics and Computer Science from Yeshiva University.

Akriti is a Venture Partner at Ridge Ventures. Her background in computer science, product management, and building a B2B business from the ground up have expertly positioned Akriti to understand the complexities that founders face not only in developing software but in all aspects of the lifecycle of a startup.

Previously, Akriti was an investor at Octopus Ventures and was part of the Deep Tech pod focusing on everything from AI/ML automation to Quantum Computing.  She worked as Product Manager with Windows Security and in the User Experience team at Windows Edge. While completing her MBA at the London Business School, she worked with the Amazon Alexa team to help launch Alexa in new territories. Prior to this, she built a B2B business focused on accounting in the retail space in India.

She holds a BS in Computer Science Engineering from the University of Michigan and an MBA from London Business School.

Akriti enjoys tennis, soccer, and pretty much any competitive sport.

Wendy is a Venture Partner at Ridge.  Wendy has a unique combination of founder and investor experience.  After serving as a Partner at global private equity firm Advent International, where she spearheaded early-stage software investments, Wendy co-founded mobile event app Gather Digital and oversaw its sales and marketing efforts.  The company thrived and was acquired in 2017 with Wendy leading both Sales and Business Development at the acquirer.

Wendy has a Bachelor’s from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Pat is a Co-Founder and Venture Partner at Ridge and currently serves as board director or observer at Espresa, nWay, Upwave and Yesware.

Prior to co-founding Ridge, Pat was CEO at IDG, Publisher and CEO of PCWorld and Founder and CEO of IDG’s Digital News Publishing subsidiary.

Pat holds a BA in Economics from Harvard University.